Dress #109: Charles James evening dress in silver and black

This hand-stitched paper dress is based on an evening dress created by Charles James in 1950-1951; the original is held by the Chicago History Museum (accession 1960.487a). According to costume historian Timothy Long, on a visit to the Museum Charles James identified this dress as being originally created for Marjorie Merriweather Post. The Museum itself identifies this as having been worn by the donor, Mrs. William O. Hunt.

The shape is a precursor to James’ ‘Four-Leaf Clover’ dress, and was created by thermally setting plastic boning on a custom four-lobed dress form built by James. The statement sleeves are supported by an inner layer of nylon crinoline.

Charles James is considered by the Met to be the ‘only American to work in the true couture tradition’. His dresses were complicated constructions, many of them created through draping on the bodies of his customers, or using custom dress forms that combined the measurements of his customer with the fanciful contours used to sculpt the dresses into the desired shapes.

I’ve chosen a Nepalese Lokta paper for the black silk faille skirt, and the most beautiful Thai kozo paper for silk satin top.

The dress is six inches tall, stitched by hand on 8x10 inch 100% cotton watercolour paper, which means that it will pop right into any commercial frame in that size, and be ready to hang on your wall.

Materials: Nepalese lokta paper, Thai kozo paper, and cotton floss on cotton paper; 24.5 x 20.3 cm (10 x 8")

Citations:

Long, Timothy A., and Leonie Davis. Charles James: Designer in Detail. Hardback edition, V&A Publishing, 2015.

Long, Timothy A. Charles James: Genius Deconstructed. Chicago History Museum, 2011.